Polymeric fabrics are used to make a variety of products, some of which require the polymeric fabrics to absorb water. Such products include towels, industrial wipes, infant care products such as baby diapers, and feminine care products such as tampons. Polyolefin non-woven fabrics are polymeric fabrics which are particularly suited for these type products. This is because polyolefin non-woven fabrics are relatively economically produced.
Polyolefin non-woven fabrics and other types of polymeric fabrics tend to repel water. Thus, to effectively absorb water, the surface of polyolefin non-wovens and other types of polymeric fabrics are often surface treated with compositions which increase the wettability, of the fabric. One such conventional surface treatment is octylphenoxypolyethoxy ethanol, a non-ionic surfactant.
There are some problems with conventional surface treatment compositions used to increase the wettability of polymeric fabrics. For example, conventional surface treatment compositions are relatively easily rubbed off the fabric and are also easily washed off the fabric when the fabric is wetted. Conventional surface treatment compositions are often substantially completely removed from the polymeric fabric after only one washing. After the surface treatment is removed, the polymeric fabric again becomes water repellent and less effective to absorb water. Moreover, to compensate for the inability of conventional surface treatments to survive use, conventional surface treatments are often applied to polymeric fabrics in large quantities which increases the cost of the treated fabric. In addition to the foregoing, conventional surface treatment compositions are often skin irritants and thus are undesirable as surface treatments for fabrics used to make infant care products and feminine care products.
Therefore, there is a need for a surface treatment for improving the wettability of polymeric fabrics which survives repeated use and washing of the fabric, is less of a skin irritant and essentially medically safe, and is economical.